Lucid Dreams of California Highway Patrol Duties
Lucid Motors, the company behind the svelte all-electric luxury sedan that Jason Cammisa once called “a combination of Mercedes and Tesla,” and a “time machine,” might soon be responsible for chasing you down on the 405 in Los Angeles.
At least, that appears to be part of the latest idea to come from the EV brand. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) earlier this week, Lucid showed off a modified version of its Air sedan aimed at service in the California Highway Patrol. We gotta admit: This thing looks the business.
The blacked-out Air boasts the typical kit involved in a law enforcement vehicle: An aggressive bullbar up front, a red and blue lightbar across the top, and a siren mounted low in the center. Can we take a moment to admire those gloss-black steelies in the wheel wells? Somehow, those add to this car’s menacing presence.
There are a few artistic flourishes in the police identification here, all in good fun. First, we can see the bear in the star on the driver’s door, which encapsulates lightning bolts, no doubt a nod to the car’s all-electric powertrain. The real chuckle comes on the car’s rear quarter panel, where the phrase “protect & swerve” instead of the usual “protect and serve.” Nice.
Creative wordplay aside, would a Lucid Air actually make a good police cruiser? Well, let’s look at some stats. The EPA rates 2025-model-year versions of the Air at anywhere from 372 miles of range all the way up to 512 miles. The lower figure belongs to the base Pure, fitted with 20-inch wheels. That high watermark comes from the Air Grand Touring—the second-priciest trim—with 19-inch wheels.
The slowest Air, the Pure, can reach 60 mph from a standstill in just 4.5 seconds, while the Sapphire can do the same in less than two seconds. From a performance standpoint, all of these would leave the existing CHP Chargers and Ford Explorers for dead. Sure, a car chase wouldn’t always start when the Air has a full battery, but with the speeds these things can hit, it feels like it wouldn’t be too difficult to reel in the perp, even if they got a head start.
Now, that said, these aren’t exactly cheap things. The most attainable version begins at around $70K, and for the fast ones, you’re talking at least six figures. There are plenty of luxury accoutrements in these cars that can be stripped out, and batch pricing should help, but even more pedestrian police cruisers aren’t cheap, and we have a hard time figuring out how the math on this would pencil out.
Luckily, that’s all theoretical right now, because this was just to show that the Air participated in vehicle testing for the CHP. Stay tuned, though—you just might see a very swift EV in your rearview at some point down the road.
It looks mean as a police car but what is the total cost of ownership for one of these things? Arguably the initial purchase price would likely be higher than current options.
I expect this is a substantial waste of tax payers money. Money saved on gas will never recover the additional cost of the car,
You can get 2-3 Tahoe V8 models for the cost of a fast one.
Also how much to repair when you pit someone.
Every donut shop in California would need to install a charging station…
That’s just unnecessarily cruel and adolescent,
and I salute you for it.
California Dreamin’
Police cars do a lot of idling which on these sleds would be a huge battery drain. Then there is the time to recharge and the always threat of fires for no reason. As a taxpayer, no way Jose.
EVs burn very little juice when “idling” because electric motors do not idle.
It would be a huge drain if you had an aftermarket stereo cranked up with 15″ woofers, are running the heater in below freezing weather, etc, etc.
Since the patrol car is the office for the officer, the heat will be left on in the winter and the A/C will be left on in the summer while stopped. Also the radio is left on as are the emergency lights while stopped at the scene of an incident. That’s why a part of the police package for a ICE car includes a high output alternator.
Yes they are nice for City short encombrances but all total for a fleet of 20-40 EV’s on long trips, then there is the maintenance , the batteries are several thousand dollars, then the electric motors are one AC and one DC.for the power they are and overheating will kill them .Now Mr Bureaucrate ,will you pay for all that????
Government fleets always look at the total cost of ownership, not the entry price. It is really how they differ from individuals. For example they will consider the resale value of the vehicle as a very important consideration, not something that is done with a ‘heart’ purchase. Reduced servicing costs, likely less VOR time etc. all add up to savings which are weighed against the initial price. If that is cheaper over the ownership period that would be to the public benefit.
Send that beast to Arkansas where it will be put to proper use. Let Byrd take it for a spin or two.
This car may work in urban areas, but I’m not too sure about areas such I-40 or between Palm Springs and the cal-az border…